The Enchanted: Council of Seven Shifter Romance Collection

by Juniper Hart

  Grace had been the first girl in the glass room, her parents handing her to Father as a gift. She tried to remember what they looked like, but like so much of her life before Father, their faces were unfocused in her mind. She barely recalled what Father had said had happened to them, although she knew that once upon a time, they had all lived together in the commune.

  But she had been cut off from them, sent away to live in the box, where she would remain with only her Aunt Maggie as company. The idea was to keep her away from sin and evil, untouched by the impurities of the world until she was old enough to be married into the commune.

  When she had emerged from the box on her eighteenth birthday, her parents were gone.

  Who was here then? she thought. Father, for certain. Jack and Rachel had just joined us. Mark is Father’s son, and Ryan came later. Camila was the second girl in the glass room.

  Without realizing it, Grace had raised her head entirely and began doing inventory of the others, trying to recall who had been there from the start. It was like seeing them all for the first time.

  She felt a fog clearing from her eyes, but she couldn’t understand why it was happening now.

  Who are these people? she questioned silently, her heart beginning to hammer in her chest. It was the first time she had ever thought to ask how they had left their jobs and their extended families to live in a remote town by the ocean.

  How had Father recruited them? What had made them abandon normal lives to live there?

  Ryan spoke with an accent, but Grace could not be certain where he was from. She had nothing with which to compare it. Certainly, living her whole life under Father’s thumb had not introduced her to culture. Mark used words she didn’t understand; long, complicated words that made little sense to her. Had he gone to college? Why would he have the opportunity to leave when the rest of them stayed?

  The flood of questions was both foreign and unsettling. Grace wished she could stop the barrage, but the harder she tried, the more they seemed to swim in her head.

  Suddenly, she heard a sound beyond the door of the suite, and her heart froze. She looked at her companions to see if anyone else had noticed it, but they seemed consumed with their prayers, rocking back and forth, lost in their own minds.

  Again, she heard the creak of wood beyond the door of the suite. Straining her ears, she made out the sound of voices.

  Someone is here! Someone who shouldn’t be!

  It seemed impossible. Aside from Eve, who Grace knew was secured in the glass prison, everyone else was in the room where she knelt, nude and confused. And yet, she could hear them, just down the hall.

  She wondered if she was imagining things. The more she listened, though, the more she realized there was someone—there were people out there. It was more than one person.

  They were not close, and no matter how she strained her ears, she could not make out words. Grace’s skin still burst into a mass of goosebumps, and she turned her blonde head fully toward the door.

  Who are they? What are they doing here? Her heart was pounding so loudly, she was certain the others would shush her, and yet no one made a sound. Should I call out? Warn Father that outsiders have come to Eden? Is it the devil himself?

  She whipped her head around, opening her mouth to tell their leader, but the words died on her lips.

  Father’s eyes were open and boring into hers. Very slowly, he lifted a finger and put it to his lips, shaking his head deliberately, telling her not to make a sound.

  Fear and worry coursed through Grace as she closed her mouth, lowering her head in submission. She squeezed her jade eyes closed, overcome with the sense that her world was about to be spun on its axis. For the first time since she could remember, she wanted to flee Eden and never look back.

  She kept her mouth shut, knowing that whoever was out there had already captured Father’s attention, even if he didn’t make any indication that he had.

  Of course he knows what’s happening here. He always has. He is the puppet master, and we are all his puppets.

  It was dark by the time Grace was able to slip unnoticed to see Eve. The girl lay with her back to the door, the lamps unlit in the room.

  “Eve?” she whispered, slipping inside. “Eve, are you all right?”

  There was no response, and Grace’s heart began to flutter dangerously as she drew closer to the girl’s body. She was naked, uncovered by a sheet, and Grace recoiled in horror.

  Oh, my God! she screamed silently, her mouth flying to her mouth. No! Please, Eve, don’t be dead! Gulping back her agony, Grace stepped forward and touched the girl’s shoulder, her heart in her throat.

  If Eve was gone and she had not done anything to stop it from happening…

  Eve cried out in shock when Grace’s hand touched her skin.

  “Oh, you’re alive! Hallelujah!”

  Eve sat up to look at her, and Grace started again, barely recognizing the puffy faced being staring back. She looked like she had not stopped crying since the previous night, and Grace’s heart sank. The light of the moon illuminated the red-rimmed eyes and swollen face.

  Eve stared at her accusingly.

  “Where have you been all day?” she rasped. “You left me here to die!”

  Grace shook her head vehemently.

  “No!” she decried passionately. “I would never do that! Father insisted on having a day of deep meditation. I wanted to come to you, but he forbade it.”

  “I’ve been starving, without water! Do you smell that? It is my unchanged chamber pot! You are trying to kill me!” Eve howled. “Why would you do that to me? What have I ever done to deserve this?” Grace tried to embrace the nearly hysterical girl, but Eve fought her off. “And then you sent them here to stare at me.”

  Grace stared at her uncomprehendingly.

  “Sent who here? Who was here?” she demanded, her pulse beginning to race. Someone was here. Eve saw whomever it was! I knew it!

  “Don’t pretend you don’t know!” Eve bawled. “Why have you forsaken me now? What did I do, Aunt Grace?”

  “No, Eve, no,” Grace moaned. “Don’t cry, shh. I will never forsake you. I will always protect you.”

  “You didn’t protect me last night,” she whispered back, and a stab of shame pierced through Grace.

  “I cannot stop Father’s will,” she intoned, choking on her words. She was not sure if she believed what she was saying or if she had been programmed to say the words escaping her mouth.

  “My back is so sore,” Eve gasped. “I am burning up.”

  With a sinking heart, Grace peered at the wounds on her back, her head growing dizzy by what she saw. She reached out to touch Eve and realized that she was running a fever.

  “You got an infection,” she said, more guilt overwhelming her. “I’ll run for ointment,” she promised, her heart thundering. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Don’t leave me again!” Eve begged, and the plaintive cry shattered the older woman’s heart.

  “I’ll be back,” Grace assured her. “I swear it.” She hurried from the room before Eve could protest again.

  I should have ignored Father and come before. She’s needed treatment for hours, and now she might die! She rushed up the steps toward her suite, gathering her skirts in hand so she did not slip on them while she ran.

  Rounding the corner to her room in the west wing, she stopped in her tracks.

  Father was leaving Camila’s room, a smile on his face. It faded the moment he saw her, his eyes narrowing.

  “Where were you?” he demanded, his voice a low growl.

  “Eve is sick,” she gasped. “She needs treatment for her lashes.”

  Father closed the space between them, grabbing her by the hair.

  “I specifically told you to leave her be tonight. If she is sick, it is because you are disobeying a direct order from me, your God.” He threw her ruthlessly to the floor, but Grace jumped to her feet instantly. In the dim light of the hall, she read the surpri
se in his face.

  What was she doing? Her eyes almost bulged from their sockets, but she couldn’t back down, not when Eve needed her.

  “Maybe you’re right, Father, but she needs attention, and she needs it at once.”

  They stared at one another, and Grace felt a steel rod of stubbornness force its way into her backbone. For a moment, she caught a glint of something she didn’t understand in his eyes.

  Was that fear?

  It was gone before she could be sure.

  She could never recall a time when she had stared so defiantly at Father. To her utter shock, he looked away first.

  “You are just like your parents. Tend to her,” he muttered. “I will deal with you in the morning.” He turned and stalked off toward his suite.

  What does that mean? How am I like my parents? There was no real time to consider it, and Grace whirled to enter her suite. When she opened the door, she saw the light disappear from Camila’s doorway. She was spying on us. What else is new?

  Hurrying to the bathroom, she collected gauze and ointment for Eve’s cuts. She scrounged through the cupboards, seeking out aspirin. Armed with everything she needed, she headed to the kitchen and fixed a tray of tea, soup, and water before returning to the glass room.

  Eve had not moved from her position on the bed, and tenderly, Grace got to work. Eve cried out as Grace swabbed the mess on her back, biting back tears as she looked at the cut, young skin.

  “I don’t want to be here anymore,” Eve whispered. “I want to go home.”

  The statement was stunning and sent a fission of alarm through Grace’s body.

  “This is your home, Eve,” she replied softly. “And please don’t say things like that.” The thought of Father lingering nearby was too much to bear. He had already done enough damage. How much more could Eve withstand?

  “I don’t care if he hears me,” Eve rasped, but Grace knew that was not true. She was terrified of what punishment Father could concoct for insubordination. She was still reeling from the last punishment, after all. “I don’t want to get married,” Eve continued, her sentences coming out in a rush. “Please, Aunt Grace, help me get out of here.”

  “Shh, shh, you’re not well,” Grace crooned. “Be still until I finish here, and you can have some medicine for your fever.”

  “No!” Eve cried. “It’s not what I want. I want to get out. Please, you are my only friend. We can go together. You can’t want to live this way.”

  “Eve—”

  “Stop calling me that,” the girl hissed suddenly, whipping her head around. Her bright teal eyes gleamed furiously in the dark, and for a moment, Grace was afraid.

  “What?” she asked in confusion. “What do you mean? That’s your name.”

  “My name is not Eve.”

  Grace’s jaw dropped slightly as she stared at the girl.

  “Of course it is,” she said soothingly.

  She is entering delirium, she thought, panicked. I need to work faster before she sinks too far into this fever.

  Eve continued to study her over a quivering shoulder.

  “It’s not,” she said, but her tone was much lower. “And I bet your name isn’t Grace, either.”

  A flash of light illuminated before her eyes, and Grace suddenly saw herself sitting in a playground in a pair of coveralls, her hair in a set of long, blonde pig tails with red ribbons.

  The image was gone as thunder rumbled its way through the room.

  “He tried, but he couldn’t make me forget who I am,” Eve mumbled. “I remember, and I will go home one day. He lies, Aunt Grace. He lies to us all. He’s no prophet. He’s a cult leader and a kidnapper.”

  Grace finished applying the gauze to her wounds and stroked Eve’s curls lovingly.

  “Have some medicine now, sweetheart,” she coaxed. “I have made you some soup. Eat, drink, and rest. You will feel better in the morning, you’ll see.”

  Eve did not respond and instead curled into a ball on the bed, her knees to her chest.

  “I’ll be back in the morning to check on you,” Grace told the girl, but Eve did not respond, and Grace backed out of the room slowly, wondering if she would be all right overnight.

  Should she stay with her?

  Immediately, the thought of Father’s face entered her mind, and she gulped back her nervousness.

  Eve would be fine. Grace would visit her first thing. If Father caught her staying with her…

  She did not want to think about what would happen. There would be no one to apply ointment to her back when he was finished with her. She might not even live to need ointment.

  Grace hurried back to her room as rain began to pelt against the skylights above her, the wind picking up to rattle the windows. She made her way to the bed and lowered herself into the covers, her mind racing with everything Eve had told her.

  Did she really see someone here today? It seemed plausible—Grace was certain she had heard them. And Father seemed to have heard them, too, but he didn’t seem the least bit surprised that they were there. Why would outsiders be here when we have managed to seclude ourselves for so long without them?

  “Those who do not embrace our way of life are the devil incarnate!” Father often preached. “And do we socialize with the devil?”

  “No!” the community screamed.

  “Do we talk to the devil?”

  “No!”

  “Do we invite the devil into our house?”

  “No! No! No!”

  Had Father been fraternizing with the devil?

  Grace was ashamed for her thoughts. Eve had put impure ideas in her mind because of her rantings. She would feel better in the morning. They would both feel better come dawn.

  A reverberating clap of thunder caused her to jump, as if mocking her. She forced herself to think pure thoughts. Squeezing her emerald eyes closed, she began to pray.

  Now lay me down to sleep…

  It was still storming when Grace opened her eyes in the morning. To her chagrin, the knot which had rested in her stomach the previous night had not subsided, but she quickly dressed and hurried downstairs.

  When I see Eve is all right, I will lose this terrible sense of forbidding which seems to be plaguing me, she thought, nodding at the others as she encountered them in her passing.

  “Father wishes to see you, Grace,” Leah called, and Grace nodded.

  “I will be right there,” she told the brunette.

  “He is in the dining room, Grace!” Leah yelled, continuing in the opposite direction. Grace ignored her and pushed open the door to the glass room.

  It was locked. She stared at it, stunned for a moment. The door had not required locking in months, maybe a year.

  A feeling of panic touched Grace’s heart, but she forced herself to be rational.

  Father must have come to see her and locked it with habit, she reasoned, reaching for the key from around her neck. It had been there for months, but she had never had cause to use it, not since Eve had submitted to Father and the group.

  She found the loose pane and slipped the key into the lock. It didn’t work.

  “Grace! Did you hear me?” Leah asked, appearing behind her. “Father wants to see you in the dining room.” Slowly, Grace turned and looked at Leah, her face twisted in fear. “Grace, are you all right?”

  Without responding, she turned to walk toward the dining room, her heart in her throat. Why does my key not work? What has he done to Eve?

  She entered the room and saw Father surrounded by the others as he sermonized breakfast prayer.

  “My key doesn’t work,” she told him, her voice flat, interrupting him mid-sentence.

  There was a gasp of shock at her disruption. Father’s mouth became a fine line.

  “Grace, you are late for prayer. Bow down, and we will talk in a moment. I had been waiting to speak with you.”

  “Where is Eve?” she demanded as if he had not spoken. “What have you done with her?”

  Father�
�s face turned crimson, but he smiled serenely at the group.

  “It seems that Grace is having a crisis,” he told the dumbfounded members. “Forgive me while I have a private counsel with her.” He seized her arm in a vice-like grip and yanked her from the dining room. Grace barely noticed, her face stone as he whirled her around.

  “How dare you?” he hissed.

  “What did you do? Why can’t I get to Eve?” she asked him again. A sob began to form in her throat, and she stared at him imploringly. “Please, let me see her. She isn’t well!”

  Father shook his head sadly. “I should have foreseen this. You have become codependent. It is terrible, really, detrimental to you both. That is why I have to put a stop to it. This dependency is a pathway for the devil, and look how you are acting. As if the devil were inside you as we speak!”

  Grace ignored his implication, her mind becoming wrought with upset. She could hear Eve’s torment playing like a record inside her. “You can’t! She is sick, and she needs me!”

  A slow, cruel smile formed on Father’s face, and Grace suddenly realized that keeping Eve from her had nothing to do with his concern for Eve’s independence.

  “I will ensure that you are reunited with Eve again, but you must be a good, obedient girl, Grace. Can you do that?”

  “Yes,” she murmured, her heart sick as she thought of Eve believing she had been abandoned yet again. “Yes, of course. Please, I will do anything you want. Don’t harm Eve.”

  “You do not tell me what to do,” he reminded her, his tone cold, and she hung her head quickly.

  “No, of course not,” she mewled.

  “I have a task for you,” Father continued. “If you manage to complete it without failing me, I will allow you to see Eve again. If not…” He trailed off and shrugged his shoulders.

  Grace’s head jerked up, and she gaped at him in surprise. If not, what? Will he harm me? Harm Eve? How else could he keep me from seeing her again when the wedding is less than a month away?

  “I will do it,” Grace whispered as Father released her. “Anything you want.”

  He did not respond, turning to leave her staring at him. But as he walked away, a terrifying thought rushed through her mind, one that barreled into her psyche out of nowhere.